Wednesday 8 October 2014

Food memories: The immigrant's kitchen



It's been a while since I wrote a Food Memories post. The intention was to make them a regular series and I still want to do that. Having written about Rose Petal Jam in my last post, it makes sense for me to think about the Polish food I grew up with. 

There's so much here that it would take a whole lot of writing. Instead of that, I want to look at snapshot memories - and some may be a little bit surprising.

My grandparents moved here after the War. They lived in Norfolk for a while then sailed to New York before finally settling in Bury. Apparently, after a short stay Stateside my grandmother wanted to return to England so return they did, and joined a sizeable Polish community over here. They initially bought a terraced house on Canning Street and then progressed to a 1930s semi a little further out of town. It had a tiny kitchen, an even smaller pantry and gardens to the front and back.

This tiny kitchen housed a fridge, a sink unit, an electric cooker and a built-in cupboard. The walls were tiled with brick tiles and there was a 1950s unit with sliding glass doors, a couple of drawers and a Formica top. Estate agents would probably describe the whole set-up as 'cosy'.

The built-in cupboard, I remember, was always furnished with a box of Ritz crackers and a tub of Saxa salt. And jars of sauerkraut (Krakus - Poles don't buy the cheaper, 'inferior' brands stocked by supermarkets. They go to delis or actual Polish skleps, as far as I know). My grandmother and grandfather were very partial to a Ritz cracker. Indeed, my - frankly rather scary - grandma has been known to send visitors packing if they don't arrive bearing a box at Christmas.


The front, or 'best' room was seldom used. It had my grandad's medals displayed on the wall, and net curtains and a fancy glass-fronted cabinet with mirrored panels on the inside. In the cabinet were dinky liqueur glasses and a variety of blow-your-socks-off spirit-based drinks. Upon arrival I'd be sent in there to get myself a little plastic bottle of lemonade, Panda Pops or similar. There was always just the one, and once I'd been it would be replaced with another lone bottle procured from the corner shop.

On the coffee table lived chocolates in a sellophane-wrapped box: dark ones filled with cherry liqueur, brought back from Poland by whoever had been over there last. Occasionally I'd be allowed one. You bit into them and there'd be the bitter taste of very dark chocolate, followed by the alcoholic sweetness of the cherry and the slight graininess of sugar. They weren't very nice. But they were chocolate. And when you're little any chocolate is better than none at all.

Yes, a lot of cooking happened in the tiny kitchen. And a lot of growing and harvesting went on in the garden, and drying and storing in the porch and garage.

But for now: little details of the store cupboard and drinks cabinet. I'll probably never eat a cherry liqueur again. But I do buy big jars of Krakus gherkins and sauerkraut. And I also love the greasy saltiness of Ritz crackers. A little too much. So they never make it into the shopping basket.


22 comments:

  1. I love looking back at past generations. Little things stick in your memory, like your ritz crackers. I remember the co-op van coming to my grandparents, it was a travelling shop!! All the food would then go straight into the pantry. Sarah

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  2. how glorious to hear of other people's memories of home...in whatever form it might take.
    it always fascinates me the little details that we remember...why some things sticks and others don't.

    and I had to smile at the journey your grandparents took before the arriving at their destination - Norfolk, new York and then little ole bury (my home town ;))
    my memories of growing up there grow ever more rose tinted.

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    1. It's changed an awful lot... like most places I suspect. Mainly retail parks and one way systems, sadly.

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  3. Lovely, it's so nice to hear about kitchens from the past, and inspirational to see a small kitchen run so well and productively as my kitchen is a little one too. I love that there was a drink waiting for you each time you visited. Such a nice post, these memories should be preserved. CJ xx

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  4. loved this post, typical polish background and way of life by the Poles in the UK! My grandma lived with us and we had the very same stuff both in the house and garden as you mentioned! Lol! and....... I still buy the krakus range of products and so glad I can buy them over here in Oz! More posts like this one ...pleeese!

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    1. I'm planning on doing a Food Memories series post each month hopefully :)

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  5. Dear Sarah,

    How lovely to read about your grandparents and your memories from their home. And even though people are not with us any more they're in a way always there. Watching over us an reminding of times gone by. Things we've inherited and things that has become a habit or a tradition due to the fact that they were in our lives. What a treasure that is.

    Thank you so very much for sharing sweet Sarah. Take care.

    Charlie
    xx

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    1. Thank you :) And yes, as well as remembering little details it's important, I think, to record them and to pass these stories on (particularly to our children).
      S x

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  6. Lovely memories Sarah! I love how food can trigger whole picture stories in our minds. Your grandma sounds like quite a lady. My granny was very straight talking too but lovely to her core. And yum to Ritz crackers. So moreish though! Bee xx

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    1. My grandmother's still here, ruling the old folk's home with an iron fist... she's 95 but still a force to be reckoned with!
      I suspect Ritz crackers are my Pringles in that I can't stop once I get started. Not ideal as I need to lose a few pounds before Christmas!
      x

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  7. I like Ritz crackers too much so I don't even buy them. It would be a mistake. My husband loves cherry liqueurs but I don't which means he can buy himself a box and know that I won't eat any.

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    1. Jay has a very sweet tooth whereas I'm worse for savouries: cheese, salted nuts, crisps etc. So those things tend to be rare treats for me. I go completely mad at Christmas and fill my face with Stilton, Brie, cashews, pretzels...

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  8. Thank you for this wonderful post. It is beautifully written and so evocative of the post war generation that I can almost see smell my own grandparents' kitchen in Cambridge.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it - and that it brought back some memories for you too.

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  9. It is so lovely to read your food memories Sarah. So often those who move from one country to another miss the food even more than anything it seems, and it is the foods from home that they hold on to so dearly. It is lovely to know that you are keeping the food memories and loves of your family alive. xx

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    1. Thanks, Amy... I do love Polish food but it has to be in moderation or my cholesterol levels would be way up there! I agree though - it is important to me to keep that part of my family history going. x

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  10. I love Ritz crackers so I can't have them around. :) I love saltine (soda) crackers too and can eat a whole sleeve of those with no trouble. I'm all about salt.

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    1. Me too. I ladle it on to everything savoury (but have recently discovered the joys of salted caramel too)...

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  11. Not my childhood memories, but being married to the child of Polish immigrants everything you mention here and in your earlier post is familiar. My parents in law kept a Polish deli in Preston market. I can still see all those Krakus jars in my mind's eye.

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    1. I wish I'd have visited! Delis specialising in Eastern European foods have a very specific smell, mostly from the cured meats and garlic sausage and cheeses... wonderful.

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  12. Our family background is Eatern Europe too...although Russian (or more modern- Ukraine and Belarus) than Polish...although who knows where the boundaries were really. The foods sound familiar to me too. I love these memories.

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    1. The boundaries have moved quite a lot since the War; I think my grandparents came from an area which is now in Lithuania (or at least, right on the very edge of the border).

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